Especially when applying to a top-tier, selective college, how important is the quality of your writing?
I feel like you can write straightforward prose which is informative and thoughtful - but you can also weave an extremely well-written story which could impress the admissions officers and show them that you are an exceptional writer who could do well in their school.
As I write my essays, I feel a lot of pressure to try to make things well-written (like the kinds of essays you would find in The New Yorker or Harry Bauld’s iconic book) and this pressure is stymieing my progress. Would I lose anything by letting go of this drive to write well? Are informative essays which betray no writing brilliance just as good?
It has to be both, but if you HAVE to prioritize one over the other… go with a cogent, genuine story. Pretty prose is worthless without substance, and frankly what most 17-year-olds think “great” writing is… isn’t. It takes years to develop and hone great writing, and I often advise students to cut out bloated prose in favor of actual content. But ideally a great essay for the most competitive schools can accomplish both. Simply from a “how to combat writer’s block” perspective: yes, I give you permission to throw out any pretense of writing a New Yorker quality essay. Even the best writers have to do that, btw. I write novels and half the battle is fighting perfectionist tendencies to just get something on the page. You can always edit later. Get the ideas on the page first.